MOST IMPORTANT

[Big Ed]

Form and consistency!

[Dave Worden]

Sorry form guys: I think focus is the most important.  I've shot many an arrow with poor form and good focus and gotten a decent (not perfect) result.  I've shot even more with bad focus and good form and had a poor result.  If you consider focus as part of form, then I'd say form, but I consider form mechanical and focus mental.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Dave Worden:
Sorry form guys: I think focus is the most important.  I've shot many an arrow with poor form and good focus and gotten a decent (not perfect) result.  I've shot even more with bad focus and good form and had a poor result.  If you consider focus as part of form, then I'd say form, but I consider form mechanical and focus mental.

yer right, but i also think yer wrong.

"form" is a physical thing that's guided by yer brain, and "focus" is the mental/brain part of "form".  

you can't have "form" without the brain doing its best, and that includes "focus".  they're both a requirement for consistency.  can't have one without t'other.  ymmv.

[59Alaskan]

You're only as strong as your weakest link.  Typically, the human element is deemed the weakest as it is the most inconsistent of the 3 major elements named here (bow, arrow, human).

However, if the bow breaks or the arrow is way out of tune, they very well could become the weaker link.

[YORNOC]

FORM.
Everything else begins from there.
I agree, form and focus are both part of the same thing.

[njloco]

I shot for many years before I new anything about archery but, was lucky enough to have very good form by accident. Never had a problem hitting my target, if the arrow shot left or right, I just used good old Kentucky windage. I now even do blank/ blind bale shooting, just to help keep the form up to snuff.


Form all the way!

[3arrows]

Depends on what were talking about,archery or bowhunting.Archery it would be form,Bowhunting it would be the arrow.

[wallybowman]

Form first. Just look at the Japanese archery Kyudo, where students spend around one year or longer just practicing form.

[olddogrib]

Consistent form trumps everything.  I am first and foremost a hunter, but I'm interested in the technical side of archery in order to be the best shot I can be. There are other sites devoted more to competitive archery, where they can openly discuss every accuracy enhancing trick you can legally do to add points to your score. I'm talking the best target shooters in the country and can back it up on the national leader boards.  They don't post here because "aiming" is a bad word here, but they have the videos to prove you can raise nock points excessively high, walk the string, etc., everything that can be done to minimize gap size and admit the last thing on their minds is whether those arrows would group with bare shafts...but those arrows we'd call poorly tuned shoot to a repeatable point of impact out of consistent hands!